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| "Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God." |
(Second Sunday of the Year (A): This homily was given on
January 19, 2014 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond
Suriani. Read John 1: 29-34.)
For the audio version of this homily, click here: Second Sunday of the Year 2014]
Just before Communion at weddings and funerals (and also at
Masses on Christmas and Easter), I make the following announcement:
“At this time all
practicing Catholics in good standing are invited to come forward if they wish
to receive the Lord in Holy Communion.
To those who are not Catholic: We certainly welcome you here on this
special occasion. I cannot offer you
Communion today, but I do invite you to come forward if you wish—to me or to one
of the other priests or deacons at this Mass; come with your arms crossed over
your chest in this fashion, and we will be happy to give you a blessing today
in the Lord’s name.
‘That invitation also applies to Catholics, who know, for some reason, that they should not receive.”
In all honesty, my brothers and
sisters, I hate having to say that. I
really do. The reason that I, and many
other priests, feel we need to give
this instruction is, quite frankly, because during the last 50 years many of
our brothers in the priesthood have failed to tell their people the truth and
instruct them properly. In their desire
to be “nice guys,” these priests have told certain men and women that it was okay
for them to receive the Eucharist when it was definitely NOT okay for them to
do so. Some of them have even gone so
far as to invite UNBAPTIZED PERSONS to receive Communion at Catholic weddings
and funerals!
Those of us who make the
announcement do it because we want those attending Mass in our parishes to do
the right thing.
And many appreciate the
guidance. I’ve actually had a number of
non-Catholics come up to me after these Masses and say, “Fr. Ray, thank you for
what you said; thank you for the instruction.
We’re never sure what to do in these situations, and no priest has ever
given us any guidance on the matter in the past.”
Generally speaking, it’s been my
experience that both Catholics and non-Catholics who are really serious about their faith appreciate this
instruction, while Catholics who like to “pick and choose” which Church
teachings they’re going to follow do not.
And every once in awhile one of
those in the latter category will send me a letter or an email, expressing
their disapproval.
Recently, for example, someone
wrote the following to me in an email: “Fr. Ray, please reconsider your
comments before Communion [at funerals].
Frankly, they are offensive.
Jesus would not have been so uncharitable or insensitive.”
When I responded to this person and
indicated that what I say is rooted in the teaching of Sacred
Scripture—especially St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, another man
who received my response wrote back: “Obviously, for [Fr. Ray], it’s all about
doctrine, not compassion and understanding. . . . It is also an element of
ELITISM. It couldn’t be further from
what Jesus preached, and I’m sorry that St. Paul couldn’t see that (but after
all St. Paul went through, I can cut him a break).”
I have the sneaking suspicion
that St. Paul would not quite agree with the assertion that he had
misinterpreted Jesus. If Paul did
misinterpret our Lord, by the way, then that means our God is
schizophrenic! We call the Bible “the
word of God”—which means that the teaching of God in the Gospels cannot
contradict the teaching of God in the rest of the New Testament!
But that’s not the reason I
mention all this today. The reason I
mention this situation—and specifically these two letters—in the context of
this homily, is because in each case the
author claims to be able to discern infallibly the presence of Christ and his
teaching! The first man made that
point when he said that “Jesus would not have been so uncharitable or
insensitive” as I supposedly was; the second made the point when he said that
my remarks “couldn’t be further from what Jesus preached.”
I get the sense that they think
they understand the teaching of Jesus better than Jesus understood the teaching
of Jesus!
John the Baptist was much more
humble in his assessment of himself, as he indicates in today’s gospel reading
from John 1. Here was a man who rightly
understood that his individual discernment was not infallible. He admits
very candidly that when he first encountered Jesus at the Jordan River, he did
not realize that he was in the presence of the Messiah. God had to make that fact clear to him.
And he did.
As John says here, “I did not
know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever
you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with
the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and
testified that he is the Son of God.”
God always provides a mechanism
to clarify these things for us, as he clarified things for John. This, in fact, is why Jesus established a
Church—and why he established his Church on the “rock” of Peter. Our Lord knew how easy it would be for
people—even good, sincere people—to misunderstand and misinterpret his words. Our individual discernment is never
infallible! But the discernment of the
successors of the apostles in union with the successor of Peter is infallible—when
they speak together officially on matters of faith and morals.
The individual discernment of many Christians today—including the two
men I mentioned earlier in my homily—has actually resulted in the creation of an
imaginary (and false!) Jesus: a Jesus who is nice all the time; a Jesus who
never offends anybody; a Jesus who ignores sin; a Jesus who pretty much approves
of everything we do or say.
In looking to themselves as their
final authority on matters of faith and morals, these Christians forget some
important things. They forget that the very
same Jesus who said, “Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will
give you rest” (and other nice things like that), also called the Pharisees
“hypocrites,” “blind guides” and “whitewashed tombs.” They forget that this very same Jesus once said,
“How hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God!” and, “If your
right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away!” and “Unless your
holiness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall not enter
the kingdom of heaven.” They forget that
this very same Jesus once made a whip of cords and drove a bunch of greedy money
changers out of the Temple area, yelling, “My Father’s house shall be a house
of prayer, but you have made it into a den of thieves.”
And they call me “insensitive”
and “uncompassionate” for giving people a few guidelines at Communion time?
I’m a pussycat compared to Jesus!
We all need discernment as we
seek to follow Jesus in this life. We
all need, in other words, to be able to recognize the presence of Jesus and his
teaching. But if we want to follow the real Jesus—the Jesus John the Baptist and
the apostles followed—then we need to seek the guidance of the Church that
Jesus established. This is why the most
important book for any Catholic to own (besides the Bible) is the Catechism.
If we own a copy of the
Catechism—and then consult it for spiritual guidance and for answers—God will
guide us in our discernment of his will, as he guided John the Baptist in
recognizing and following the Messiah.
We’ll understand what God wants
us to believe; we’ll understand what he expects of us; we’ll understand the
difference between right and wrong; we’ll understand how to get on—and how to stay
on—the road to heaven.
And we’ll understand why Fr. Ray
and other priests sometimes make the announcement that they make at Mass right
before Communion.
